Photos: Defectors send bottles of food and facts to North Korea

May 02, 2018 11:28 IST

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North Korean defectors sent water bottles filled with rice and K-pop-loaded USB sticks floating towards their homeland Tuesday, even as the two Koreas removed border loudspeakers following a rare summit last week. The North’s leader Kim Jong Un and the South’s president Moon Jae-in agreed last week to “completely cease all hostile acts” along the Demilitarized Zone from May 1, including loudspeaker broadcasts and leaflet balloon launches. (Ed Jones / AFP)

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South Korean soldiers dismantle loudspeakers that were set up for propaganda broadcasts near the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas in Paju. For years South Korea had been using sound messages to broadcast anti-Pyongyang messages including North Korea’s communist system, news on South Korea and even K-pop music. (Kim Hong -JI / AFP)

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North Korean defector Lee Sun-sil (R) waits with others prior to the launch of bottles on Ganghwa island. North Korean political prisoner Jung Gwang-il and other activists tossed the bottles hoping the tide would carry them northwards. “Seoul is playing into Pyongyang’s hands by depriving ordinary North Koreans of much-needed information,” Jung said. (Ed Jones / AFP)

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The defectors have been throwing hundreds of bottles filled with food, cash, medicine and memory sticks twice a month for more than two years. Park Jung-oh, a defector, said, “We all lived in North Korea for at least 30, 40 years so we know exactly what the people there want and need... When they watch the content of our USB sticks, they will realise that they have been tricked by their government.” (Ed Jones / AFP)

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The USB sticks contain movies, current affairs programmes, and K-pop music videos -- carefully selected by Jung to include female musicians in revealing outfits. “It shows what freedom is... It’s no problem in South Korea but banned in the North. That’s what we want to show,” he said. (Ed Jones / AFP)

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Activists empty bags of bottles on Ganghwa island. According to a survey conducted in 2015, 81% of North Korean defectors had watched foreign films on USB sticks before they fled the country. Thae Yong Ho, North’s former deputy ambassador to Britain who defected to the South in 2016, once said that disseminating outside information was a way to educate North Koreans to resist the authorities. (Ed Jones / AFP)

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As the activists tossed the bottles into the sea, the South’s defence authorities began removing loudspeakers along the Demilitarized Zone to implement the Panmunjom Declaration agreed at last week’s summit. (Ed Jones / AFP)

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These bottles generally take about four to five hours to reach the closest North Korean shore. Despite the agreement between the two Koreas, Jung said he would continue his efforts to penetrate the notoriously closed regime, eight gigabytes at a time. “One USB stick can bring about change for a hundred people,” he added. (Ed Jones / AFP)

about the gallery

As South Korean soldiers dismantle loudspeakers set up for propaganda broadcasts sending messages about North Korea’s communist system, news on South Korea and even K-pop music, North Korean defectors continue sending water bottles filled with rice and K-pop-loaded USB sticks floating towards their homeland in an attempt to disseminating outside information to North.